The CEO of surveillance camera company Flock Safety apologized on Thursday over incidents in which police officers have abused the technology for personal reasons.
This comes after a Washington Post report revealing that at least 50 officers were caught using the surveillance cameras to spy on romantic partners and others.
From CBS News:
The CEO of surveillance technology company Flock Safety apologized Thursday for instances where its data was misused by law enforcement officers and discussed changes the company is rolling out to its systems.
Following a Washington Post report that police officers were accused in 46 cases of improperly using access to Flock's license plate camera network, in some instances allegedly stalking women, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said he had listened to one woman's interview Thursday morning.
"I apologize," Langley said in an interview with CBS News. "It kills me that she went through that."
Asked if he took enough responsibility soon enough when it came to the accusations of abuses, Langley said hindsight is "a brutal tool."
"Hindsight tends to be very clear," he said. "And I think, of course, we could have done more earlier, and we listen, and we learn, and we'll continue to move forward because until everyone has an equal level of safety in this country, we have work to do."
Langley still defended his company and the service it provides law enforcement agencies with its network of 120,000 cameras around the country that record license plate numbers and other details from vehicles that pass by.
"It gets to this issue that when you are given power, which many people are, particularly in law enforcement, you should have higher standards of accountability," Langley said. "And so, I don't think that Flock created police abuse. I think we're the first company to ever shine a light on it and build the tools to find it."
I've learned a lot in nine years of building @Flock_Safety. Some of it from our customers, and some of it from the communities they serve.
— Garrett Langley (@glangley) August 13, 2026
Today we’re announcing the changes that came from listening. A new standard for privacy, security, and accountability in public safety…
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the company is putting reforms in place to prevent abuse from corrupt law enforcement officials amid widespread backlash against the surveillance tools.
The country’s most prominent seller of automated license-plate readers said Thursday it will enact major changes in hopes of more proactively preventing abuse by police officers.
Flock, the maker of a vast roadside camera network that maps cars’ movements into a database searchable by law enforcement, said it would for the first time start requiring officers to label every search with a criminal case number and automatically review all searches for “abnormal activity,” a previously voluntary feature that the company said was used by about a third of its 7,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Flock also said it would reduce the default setting for how long license-plate data is stored, from 30 days to seven, and give police departments more control over how their data is shared with other agencies.
The announcement comes roughly a week after The Washington Post reported that at least 50 officers had been accused, charged with or convicted of misusing Flock’s system and other license-plate readers to spy on people’s locations, including to stalk their girlfriends and ex-wives. Since publication, The Post has confirmed more than a dozen additional cases of license-plate-reader misuse.
The debate over the cameras goes beyond corrupt officers using them for nefarious purposes. Critics argue that they are often used to violate people’s right to privacy and express concerns over local and state law enforcement agencies surveilling people without obtaining warrants.
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